Mia walked into the large metal room, ready to test what she could do. Since they hadn't created her suit yet, she was wearing a full-body suit that was supposedly lightning proof. She was going to test that theory.

Mia walked to the center of the room. Blake and Mr. Payson were outside but there were security cameras so they could see what was going on. Mia tried to think back to the other night. How had the lightning worked? She remembered being angry. Really angry. And then hearing the zap. Was that the key? It was her only clue. Might as well try it out.

Mia thought about everything that she was angry about. It was easy once she started. She thought about Blake and how annoying he was. She thought about her old friend who hadn't even shed a tear when Mia told her she was leaving. She thought about Tori for being such a brat sometimes. She thought about her mom for abandoning Tori and her dad. But mostly, she thought about the anger she felt towards herself for being so hurtful, so full of mistakes, such a liability to everyone she knew. She thought about how much anger she felt at herself for being so incredibly worthless.

Mia heard a faint zap and looked down. Sure enough, her hands were sparking. She smiled and tunneled the emotions, concentrating on translating them to lightning. In a few minutes, she had a whole bolt safely tucked away in her hands. It didn't hurt her either. It was more like a soft tingle. Something someone would get if their foot fell asleep. Except, in her hand.

Mia let it fade away. She was about to walk away when she realized how exhausted she was. It felt like all of her energy had been drained out of her. Would that happen every time she used her powers? Mia tried to stand up but couldn't. Her eyes were closing on themselves. She tried to stay awake but it was impossible. Mia watched the light disappear as the darkness crept into her. Just before she fell asleep, she saw someone coming towards her. They were running and yelling something but she couldn't hear what they were saying because by the time they were close enough, she was already asleep.

✧✧✧

Mia woke up in an unfamiliar room. It was bright and as Mia looked up, she saw why. In front of her, the whole wall was a light up aquarium. Overkill, Mia thought, rolling her eyes as she looked at the rest of the room. To her left was a huge bookcase that covered about half of the wall. A fireplace rested on the other side of her but it wasn't lit. On a small t.v. stand sat a... well, a t.v..

Mia screamed when she looked directly to her left. Who wouldn't when there was a creepy, scrawny, teenage boy sitting next to them just kind of watching.

"Gosh, Blake. Could you not?" she asked, catching her breath and holding her hand to her chest.

"It's not my fault that you were shocked by my beauty," he joked.

"More like your scrawniness," she mumbled.

"Excuse me? Do you see these arms?" Blake flexed. Or tried to. "This is all muscle!" There was no muscle there.

Mia started laughing. Full out, snorting-through-her-nose, laughing. She found that she couldn't stop once she'd started. Soon, Blake joined in too.

Even when she'd calmed down, she couldn't help the smile that had crept onto her face. She hadn't been that happy for years. Not since Alex left, at least. Which was basically the same thing, since he'd left years ago.

Mia looked up, her smile still prominent. "Thanks," she said.

"You know, you should really be thanking my gym. That is how I got all of my muscles."

Mia rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry, what would I be thanking them for? I don't see any muscles."

"Wow, Wild Side. That stings." He put his hand on his heart and threw his head back. It wasn't that funny but Mia found herself laughing again. She just couldn't help it. Even though he was the most stupid, idiotic, obnoxious, annoying person she knew, he still managed to make her smile and laugh more than anyone else.

"Thanks... again," she repeated. He looked like he was about to say something stupid again so Mia decided to stop that from happening. "For making me happy. It's been awhile since I've laughed like that."

"Right, because you're such a buzzkill?" he wondered.

"I am not a buzzkill! You are!" she retorted. "Oooh, that's a good nickname. I'm gonna call you Buzzkill from now on! At least we're fair now... Buzzkill."

Blake's eyes widened. "You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, but I would... Buzzkill."

He narrowed his eyes and set his face to stone. "It's on, Wild Side."

"You're going down, Buzzkill."

✧✧✧

Mia sat at her desk. And yes, she had a desk now. Thankfully, everything had arrived a few days ago and, after a long bit of procrastinating and then some dutiful work that could not have been done without a heavy dose of musicals and a lot of heavy lifting. Anyway, she now had a desk.

Mia was finishing up her suit. She'd gotten most of it done a few days ago but she wanted to finish it before the end of the week. That meant the designs, measurements, and transfer to digital so that she could send it to Mr. Payson's tailor. Mr. Payson said that the tailor could have it finished in two weeks so hopefully she didn't have to deal with any evil things before then.

Mia finished but was nowhere near done. Next, she had to measure herself. Which would be hard. Since she was only one person. Doing it on herself. It was a struggle.

She looked down at her paper, deciding to check it before working on the measurements. She'd added the mask. That was pretty much it. But it was hard! She had to find a way to make one that both covered her face and looked okay. It was completely black except for one blue streak made to look like lightning over her left eye. It came up over her head a little bit and reached down her cheeks.

Mia was still "looking it over" (really just procrastinating) when Tori walked into the room. She didn't even knock or anything. Just barged in like it was her room. "Could you not?" Mia asked.

"Could I not what?" Tori said, batting her eyelashes as if she were perfectly innocent.

"Whatever," Mia gave in. It was too much work to argue, even if Tori was unbearably annoying. "What do you want?"

"I can't just hang out with my caring, loving, beautiful sister?"

"Not unless you want something."

"That's rude. Do you need help with anything?" she asked, seeming to notice the measuring tape that was resting on my desk.

"Not from you," Mia snapped. Tori looked shocked and slightly hurt. "Sorry, I'm just in a weird mood. Yeah, you can help. I just need to get some measurements for an outfit I'm making."

"Ooh! I love making outfits! What's it for?" she asked.

"Just me. I wanted to try getting back into it. It's been a while."

"Do you even still have a sewing machine?" Tori asked.

"No, but I'm gonna get one soon. I'm gonna need to make this outfit somehow," Mia told her with a sigh.

"I can help. It's not like I don't know how." She laughed lightly.

She wasn't wrong. She had done all the measurements during their fashion shows. Life had been so different back then.

Mia nodded and stood up. Tori walked over to her desk and grabbed the measuring tape.

"So," Tori started while wrapping it around Mia's waist. "Where did you go today?" she asked casually.

Mia almost choked. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Where. Did. You. Go. Today?" she repeated, spacing the words out as if Mia was stupid.

"I heard you the first time," Mia snapped.

"Then why did you ask?"

"Because."

"Wow." Tori set down the measuring tape and clapped slowly. "I have never heard such a great response to a question. I mean, that is quote worthy. In the wise words of Mia Patterson, 'Because.'"

"You are so annoying."

"Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Where did you go?"

"I still don't know what you're talking about," Mia lied.

Tori rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I definitely didn't see you leave the school with Blake in his car going to who-knows-where. That was all my imagination."

"What were you even doing there?" Mia asked, trying to change the subject.

"Me and Riley decided to get some frozen yogurt and then hang out at the park which just so happens to be right next to the school. So, yeah."

Mia sighed. "Look, we just went to get some coffee. It's fine." Mia didn't like lying but she had to. Tori did not need to know about Mia's powers. It wouldn't help anybody. So she had to keep it a secret. Even though she was pretty awful at lying and was pretty sure that Tori could see right past it.

Sure enough, Tori snorted as soon as she heard the excuse. "Right, you were going to get coffee. Sure. So, say that we ignore the fact that there is a Starbucks that is a five minute walk away from the school and that you've been annoyed with Blake since you met him, you still never came back so you are still lying about something."

"It doesn't matter, Tori. We just went to hang out. Is that a crime?"

"You know I won't forget this! I may not have your freaky memory stuff but when I really want to I can remember certain things for a very long time!"

"Right, anyway, why don't you help me finish this up and then you can go," Mia suggested.

"Fine, I'll bug you about it later."

✧✧✧

Mia was just finishing up her suit when she got a call. She looked down at the phone, checking the number. She didn't recognize it. She was about to decline but decided to answer it instead. She had given Bella her number the other day. Perhaps it was her.

Sure enough, as soon as she answered, she heard the familiar up-beat voice of her... friend? Was she a friend? Mia really didn't know. She'd have to figure it out later.

"Hey, Mia!" she said.

"Hey, Bella."

"How'd you know it was me?" she wondered.

"For one thing, your voice is very recognizable. For another, I have basically no other friends except for Blake who is already in my contacts and you knew my name, so yeah. It wasn't too hard to piece it together."

"Okay then. I guess that's fair. Anyway, the reason I called. So, you know that movie that came out like two weeks ago?"

"The zombie one or the Disney one?" Mia wondered.

"The Disney one," Bella replied. "Anyway, so Drew, Blake, Charlie, and I wanted to go and I was wondering if you would want to go too?"

"You like Disney!?" Mia asked, ignoring the question.

Bella laughed lightly. "Well, yeah. A little bit. I know that it's cheesy or whatever but come on, it's Disney! I just think that the people who think they're too old to watch the beauty that is Disney movies are just trying too hard. I'd much rather spend my day with my best friends watching movies about magic and love than anything else. And I like shopping, I'd just rather watch a movie with my friends, you know?" Bella rambled.

"I have to agree. I like those movies, too."

"So, that's a yes?" Bella asked and Mia was unable to notice the hopeful undertone in her voice. It made her happy but she shrugged it off. This girl didn't want to be her friend. Nobody did and nobody should. Mia wasn't worth that.

"I'll have to ask my dad. He'll probably let me go but you know, parents."

"Yeah, well, I hope you can come. We were planning to go on Saturday at 7:00."

"Anyway, I should probably go to bed. I'll text you as soon as I can with the answer."